A Friendly Takeover
by Weaver of Silver
Summary: A small one-shot on Hiruzen's meeting with his pupil during the finals of the Chunin Exams. If Sannins were just a bit less stereotypical and a bit closer as a team, that confrontation could follow a very different path.


When Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, flared suddenly in chakra sense and attacked with his signature golden dust, Hiruzen felt almost relieved. He was too tired, too cranky, and too damn old to keep this charade infinitely.

Though, he was startled that his rogue student has not shown himself yet. The leaders of Konoha military command had no full awareness of the invasion plan, but were able to get a good understanding after young Gekko made his shocking report last night. One obvious thing they were sure about was that nothing would start before the Ichibi jinjuriki was well into his battle: a biju host was a weapon not to be used suddenly to its full capacity, but would need some warming up that could not be done inconspicuously. Another unquestionable conclusion was that Rasa, an expert in large-scale destructive ninjutsu primarily, could struggle with a single well-protected target and would not dare battle the Hokage alone.

Nobody sane enough to become a Kage would dare to duel the Shinobi no Kami no matter how much old he got, Sarutobi chuckled silently. Using few swift hand signs he melted the incoming wave of sparkles and immolated his two guards who just started jumping forward. The chakra presence of imposters was making his right temple pulse with dull warning for hours, and that made him especially irritable.

And when his student made his move, it made Hokage even more startled than before, as it was not the student he expected.

Kazekage stumbled mid-step, his trademark golden sand falling weakly in an uncontrolled heap, his face twitched in a slightly amazed expression as if he suddenly remembered something long-forgotten.

"Gama Rinsho?" Sarutobi acknowledged his favourite student, lightly nodding at a dark tall figure that slowly emerged from the shadow of a frozen Rasa's guard. Strangely, there was no toads in their usual place on his shoulders.

"Hai, Sensei. With some help, I finally managed to make the chant effective immediately. This idiot noticed something too early and started to move too soon, but we are well-prepared, aren't we?" Jiraya smiled gently unlike his usual obnoxiously brash manner. The Hokage felt unease, only strengthened by the fact that everybody in the stands nearby was still engrossed with the current match, but dismissed it reluctantly: they really had much to do.

"Good, Jiraya, I am glad you were able to come quickly enough. Now we need only to find your treacherous former teamma…" he started, but a loud laugh his student stopped him before Sarutobi could end his thought.

"You know, Sensei, it's so funny that I have already talked with Orochi-kun no longer than few hours ago."

Hiruzen was shocked too much to speak normally. "What?" he rasped. One simple word took away every bit of strength in his old body.

"Sit, Sensei, the story won't be short. Everything up here is encased with a high-quality genjutsu seal, so nobody will get interested soon."

He sat obediently and listened, feeling too old and exhausted again. How could Orochimaru change mind of his other student so quickly?

"See, sensei, the story starts rather long ago. Nobody thought anything was wrong when Senju first lost their heir, a future Hokage candidate, to a simple accident: even the best messengers just die sometimes. It was not strange when they slowly died off: clan population had been small even in the late Clan Ages and was dwindling for years due to genetic problems."

Hiruzen actually remembered Nawaki Senju very well, not only because the boy was a student's family. He noticed young Nawaki's ambition and even started searching for some unconspicuous ways to associate with the boy: even a perfect Senju had to be nudged for years to make a good Kage. A tragedy was a tragedy, but Hiruzen could not think of a reason to bring up that old story again. Maybe, it was some stupid Senju conspiracy? No, his student would never fall for that.

"Even Dan's unnatural death did not ring any bells, even though that was most likely a snipe. Everybody was sure it was an unintentional leak or just a successful opportunity attack, but it still was too convenient in retrospective. Moreover, it catapulted the last main-branch Senju from the village and was thus beneficial twice."

He managed a flat expression even though inside him everything was churning at the gibberish Jiraya was sprouting. It was a Senju conspiracy indeed. How much lower could it get?

"Then… Hatake-san was an optimal Kage material: young, strong, likeable, independent, and even born in a small clan; yet he had the whole village hating him after just a small accident. I doubt somebody was really responsible for his suicide or even expected that a cold-blooded assassin could break so easily, but the whole village's hatred was a well-coordinated effort, too quick and wide to be a natural occurrence. And we have already found some evidence today."

Now, when Hiruzen started following the trend, these deductions started to feel more solid than just a random paranoid nonsense. And the evidence his student mentioned was not something a good spymaster would accept as granted. Jiraya was obviously not the best one out there, but he was both competent and loyal… or at least he was expected to be.

"Finally, the one to threaten your little tenure was no other than your own most favourite pupil. You knew too well that Orochimaru experimented on humans in his laboratory – _bijuu, even I knew!_ Everything was perfectly normal with loosing few prisoners now and there until he fully calibrated the transplantation methods, but then suddenly everyone was interested where he actually got kids for the transplantation. In the very same orphanages Danzo recruits for ROOT, obviously."

And finally he heard a direct accusation. Still, he could not believe Jiraya haven't seen the evidence, the research logs, the dead child bodies… Kami, Orochimaru killed a platoon of ANBU sent to escort him to the Tower before Sarutobi has even shown to the site.

"You two could have drunk few cups of tea, talked friendly, and reached some reasonable solution. Orochi-kun would have whined for ages, but if it was so crucial for Konoha's reputation he would destroy the facility and sent children back to the orphanages in a blink. But instead for your summons, it was two squads of ANBU… ROOT, as we now suspect, equipped with a kill order. And only then you showed up with jutsu blazing, a full Kage outfit and spectators to confirm the treason. There was only one figment of good luck in that story: Danzo's agent designated to intercept wounded Orochimaru was young Kakashi-kun, who messed with the ROOT training and fuinjutsu enough not to be too obliged by the execution order."

Hiruzen involuntarily looked at the stands and saw the gaze of a single sharingan of much older Kakashi-kun and a pair of stoic Uchiha boy's glowing eyes.

"Yes, they see us perfectly. It was less risky to include them both into our plan than to develop an illusion resistant to both doujutsu overnight. Sasuke-kun, particularly, was very, very enthusiastic after I suggested my own version of Uchiha massacre. Your "single S-rank psycho" fabrication could not explain deaths of more than three hundred people in an hour and is not very consistent with the fuinjutsu barriers around the mansion. I am dropping the fact that to kill five shinobi per minute without a large-scale destruction, Itachi would need an inhuman stealth, speed and ability to teleport – things that are fairly far away from his skillset. That operation could not go without a large part of ANBU there and your personal sanction. Did the Uchiha plan a coup or just pressed too strongly for your retirement?"

The old man chose not to answer: the story they concocted was not very believable indeed, but he would not condemn Itachi's sacrifice. And the truth of the Uchiha disgrace would probably die with him: it was stupid to hope for survival after all that talk.

"And what now?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage and probably still the best ninja in Fire Country, looked grimly at the one of two people in Konoha who could actually kill him in a duel. Yet, Jiraya just did not look ready to start a battle, was he so reliant on that new Gama Rinsho variant?

"When Orochi-kun approached me about that cool Suna's plot – to inform you about it in time to minimize casualties he had to sacrifice his most prized lab assistant cover – we devised few small interventions to make them fail and further our plans at the same time. This morning, we visited few important people, including stronger Suna jonin and Konoha elders. At the moment Orochi-kun and Tsunade-hime should uproot your old friend's base as I take my pleasure talking with you here. Then, officially, Orochimaru and our friends from Hidden Sound heroically help us thwarting the invasion orchestrated by the ROOT. Elders and few unpleasant council members heroically die to the Suna ninja, and a new Hokage is selected. In the end, Konoha gains a bit of international standing, two new ally villages, one willing and one slightly forced, and a complete political turnover"

He sighed, feeling nothing but sorrow: even Tsunade-chan betrayed him and the village. "And I die now heroically killing Rasa?"

"No, I think everybody prefers a non-heroic retirement: you got too tired, too cranky, too damn old, and too willing to get a successor after overexerting with the invasion… Even though it was you who benefitted the most from all that conspiracies, it seems it was not you who orchestrated the whole thing. Orochimaru holds no major grudge with you personally and will be fully satisfied with Danzo's guts. Tsunade already agreed to take the hat and, after Homura spilled the details on Nawaki's death and Senju downfall, wants only a dip of Danzo's blood too. We had to change our plans a lot after that confession: you are only guilty of being blind and probably going slightly senile."

Danzo. Hiruzen could simply not believe in such things. His oldest friend, partner and rival was far from perfect, but he just could not betray the village. Somehow, something deep inside him just flatly refused to disregard his trust in Danzo. Yes, his old friend could do much to protect the power they both held, but the idea of his betrayal shocked Hiruzen more than a sudden flash of lightning. Then a single association hit him even worse.

"Minato?"

Jiraya's calm posture just slumped a bit, as if he suddenly carried the same weight of years his teacher did.

"I don't know. I am sure that you wouldn't have sacrificed your wife if you knew about the October accident beforehand, or else we would not talk here so simply. Maybe, interrogating Danzo will shed some light here too, but I hope you are not involved… If nothing else, Naruto-kun will be much happier if his "grandpa" is alive and not a dead stinking body."

"And you think I will willingly assist you three?"

"Hai, Sensei. It will be a sensible thing to do, and we all expected you to be nothing but sensible", his most loyal pupil smiled gently.

That was a definite checkmate: even if he could overpower the Frog Sage (which was not likely even before Jiraya could use his greatest assassination technique suddenly), Hiruzen and his military would not fare well against Suna, Sound and the other two angry Sannin.

And regardless who won, Konoha would be the casualty in the confrontation.

Hokage chuckled in surrender and reached for his pipe just the same moment relieved Jiraya grabbed Rasa's delicate teacup from the table.

"Now we just sit calmly now and wait till Orochi-kun gets here with the latest news and you two could at last give everybody a show of wisdom, repentance and true Will of Fire in flattening both Kazekage and Suna's invasion."

Hiruzen looked over the full stands and silently prayed for the innocent spectators, not so innocent souls of his old teammates, paralyzed idiot Kazekage and countless shinobi just about to burn and die for a good spectacle. Still, the decision was right for once.

"For the success of your little coup."

Jiraya just chuckled.

"A coup? Kami forbid, Sensei! A mere _friendly takeover_."


End file.
